Galesburg Baseball: Streaks wait out the weather

GALESBURG — Galesburg High School center fielder Tyree Mitchell knows what it takes to be a leader.

“It takes someone that is 100 percent determined and 100 percent committed to the sport,” said the senior, who is the only returner that appeared in all 31 games the Silver Streaks played in 2016. “It’s just someone who just wants to get better every day.”

Along with Mitchell, GHS baseball coach Arnie Gonzalez has 12 other seniors on his roster this season and he’s counting on them to lead the other 10 Streaks on it.

“I’ve been a firm believer over the years that as long as you have a good group of seniors you have a great opportunity to have a great season,” said Gonzalez, who is entering his 18th season. “We feel our seniors can lead us not just to a great season but further into the tournament than what we have been the last few years.”

Galesburg ended the 2016 season with a 17-14 overall mark and a 9-1 loss to Geneseo in Class 3A regional semifinal action. It was the third straight year the Silver Streaks fell to the Maple Leafs in the postseason.

GHS went 5-5 in Western Big 6 Conference play last season, falling short of its fifth straight league crown.

“We had an average season last year and didn’t do as well in the tournament but we were competitive in a lot of games,” Gonzalez said. “We think that will pay off this year.”

Galesburg batted .314 as a team last season. Mitchell led the Streaks in runs scored (24) and finished with a .273 batting average, 21 hits, a homer and 14 RBIs. He wasn’t satisfied with his average and has the same plans from week-to-week in 2017.

“I’m just going to put in the hard work and be there every day early and just take quality reps,” Mitchell said. “Every week (the seniors) have to come to practice and set an example for the younger guys. We’ve got to be leaders and just set the tempo for practice.”

Gonzalez likes the work ethic his team has displayed so far. Galesburg held its first practice of the season Feb. 27 on Van Dyke Field’s artificial turf.

“They’ve been very focused. They’ve done a great job indoors even though we’ve had some days of poor weather,” he said. “Every day before practice starts we stress the idea of being focused, staying confident and disciplined and doing the things to make ourselves better. One of the things we’ve talked about this year is don’t let anybody outwork you individually. They’ve done a good job of that.

“We’ve had some good competition. We were a little concerned about the numbers we kept but we were hoping for a competitive aspect. It’s worked out so far. We have some kids wanting some playing time and they are pushing each other and that’s what we have to have.”

With snow currently on the ground and rain projected a bit later this week, Gonzalez isn’t feeling very optimistic the Streaks will have their annual opening weekend tournament Friday and Saturday at Jim Sundberg Field.

Galesburg is slated to open its season 4 p.m. Friday against Abingdon-Avon and then take on Fenton shortly afterwards. Rockridge is on the docket for 10 a.m. Saturday.

“I’m not feeling very good about this weekend. I’m not feeling very good about next weekend either but that is spring baseball,” Gonzalez said. “We accept that and that’s why we have about 43 games scheduled. There’s nothing you can do about it. We had a mild winter and really a beautiful February. We kind of wondered if it was going to come back and get us and it did.

“We have been outside and were outside for six or seven days. We took advantage of some nice weather. We were feeling really good up until these last few days. We will see.”

While the Streaks have yet to take the diamond for an actual game, the projected defensive starting lineup will include Mitchell, Tyler Lowe at first base, Nick Fields at second base, Rennie Schott at shortstop, Larry Pettis at third, Fernando Diaz will likely start in left field and Justin McGinnis will patrol right field. Brycen Theobald will be Galesburg’s main backstop.

The Streaks will have 13 different student-athletes who will get an opportunity to toe the pitching rubber. Schott, who in 2016 pitched 45 innings in nine games and allowed 14 runs (nine earned) on 37 hits, walked 12 and struck out 53 for a 1.40 ERA, is expected to see a lot of action in conference play. He’s not the only arm Galesburg will rely upon.

McGinnis, Lowe and Pettis should also factor in for the Streaks.

“We feel those four kids alone will set the tempo for everybody else,” Gonzalez said of the quartet. “We also think that Nick Fields will do a solid job for us. He just pounds the strike zone with strikes.

“That gives us five solid starters and we hope we can just keep building them from there. There are a number of kids that we feel pretty good about. We will have to see when actual competition begins.”

And hopefully, it’s sooner rather than later.

“Let’s just get the season started,” Gonzalez said. “They are chomping at the bit and so are we.”

“I feel like we have a good solid team this year,” Mitchell said. “Everybody’s working hard and trying to get each other better.”